50 Cent to Premiere 'Power' at MIPTV

Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson will lend some star Power to this year’s MIPTV when the new series he executive produced has its world premiere screening on the opening night of the annual convention of international TV buyers in Cannes.

The eight-episode Starz series Power, fromCourtney Kemp Agboh (The Good Wife), stars Omari Hardwick (Kick Ass) as a New York City nightclub owner who also has his hand in the drug world. The rapper, who has a recurring role in the show as a friend of the aspiring mogul and kingpin, exec produces alongside Agboh,Mark Canton (300), Randall Emmett(Lone Survivor) and Big Love’s David Knoller.

50 Cent, along with Agboh and Hardwick, will participate in a Q&A following the premiere.

"We are honored that Starz has chosen to showcase its latest major new series as a world premiere TV screening at MIPTV. This underlines the impact of the event, which is ideally suited to a show like Power, which is bound to have wide appeal to the numerous international buyers and media present in Cannes," said Reed Midem TV division director Laurine Garaude.

"Starz is thrilled to premiere Power at MIPTV," added CEOChris Albrecht, citing the universal story of climbing to the top. "We believe worldwide audiences will be swept up in the storytelling, the city and the music."

This is the second Starz series to hold the high-profile opening night slot, following last year’s gala premiere of Da Vinci’s Demons, which sold internationally to 125 territories and went on to score the highest-rated opening weekend for a Starz original series.